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8 La Raza L.J. 140 (1995)
Training a Diverse Student Body for a Multicultural Society

handle is hein.journals/berklarlj8 and id is 146 raw text is: Training a Diverse Student Body for a Multicultural Society* Charles R. Callerost I. INTRODUCTION With the admission of greater numbers of women and minorities in recent decades, student populations at many law schools have edged closer to reflecting the diversity of the general population.' Even more recently, gay and lesbian students and faculty have found a sufficiently tolerant atmosphere at some schools to come out, loud and proud,2 revealing a new awareness and outspokenness if not greater numbers. The legal profession and legal education, once nearly exclusively the province of white males, has not remained unaffected by these changes. Diversifying the student body has done more than create academic and professional opportunities for formerly excluded segments of our population. It has also introduced new challenges in teaching students with profoundly different experiences. Finally, the increased diversity of law school student and faculty populations has provided new opportunities for law professors to explore issues from a variety of perspectives in order to prepare all students for the demands of using the law to address the needs and problems of a multicultural society. This essay explores the benefits of raising issues in culturally diverse contexts in the law school classroom and examines techniques for doing so effectively. It also offers advice for managing difficulties which can * Copyright Charles R. Calleros 1994; La Raza Law Journal Vol. 8: 2. t Professor of Law, Arizona State University. The author thanks Jeanette Searcy, a former student at A.S.U., for her exceptional assistance in researching authority, organizing the student meeting and the information derived from it, and providing her personal insights into the student experience. This book chapter was supported by a summer research grant from the A.S.U. College of Law. I. For example, statistics of the American Bar Association show that total enrollment in J.D. programs increased only by slightly more than 13% between the 1977-78 academic year and the 1993- 94 academic year. A Review of Legal Education in the United States, 1993 A.B.A. SEC. OF LEGAL EDUC. AND ADMISSIONS TO THE BAR 67 (Fall 1993). By contrast, during the same period, enrollment of ethnic minority students increased by nearly 138%. Id. at 70. Though students of color still constituted less than 20% of total enrollment in the 1993-94 academic year, their numbers and presence are conspicuous at many schools. Id. at 67, 70. 2. I borrow this phrase from Mark E. Wojcik, an openly gay law professor at The John Marshall Law School.

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